With age a large percentage of the population develop atherosclerotic obstructions in their blood vessels which diminish circulation and induce serious illnesses such as heart attacks and strokes.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an atherectomy system to open obstructed vessels and a process of performing atherectomy ("atherectomy", as a verb, shall mean the opening of an obstructed vessel by removing and/or displacing material which obstructs a vessel) while externally dilating the vessel to ease in the insertion and extraction of the system, and constricting the vessel to make the atherectomy more effective.
Additionally, alternate dilating and constricting of the vessel, which is synchronized with the patient's own cardiovascular rhythmic pumping, can be used to enhance blood flow in the vessel in order to reduce the risk of clot formation and to improve healing of the vessel and the tissue that it serves.
The above and other objectives of the invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the accompanying drawings.